Sand In Her Eyes
by Mrs. Kakashi
Summary: garrahinata...gaara thinks about hinata, hinata thinks about garra, and it all comes together in the end. one of my longest one-shots.


Sand In Her Eyes  
  
By: Tomo Kakashi  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto.  
  
WARNING: Hinata/Gaara (I'm growing quite fond of this pairing lately)...This is a much longer one-shot than I'm usually writing, so there! :P  
  
Hyuuga Hinata had always been shy and weak, and she felt even more so after the Chuunin selection exams, when she failed against her cousin, Neji, and got ill.  
  
Gravely ill.  
  
Her injured teammate, Kiba, had told her, right before her match, that if she was to face either her ruthless cousin, Neji, or that demon, Gaara of the Sand, that she was to throw in the towel, to give up before even trying. And that's what she had intended to do, but when Neji began that speech...she just had to try and prove him wrong!  
  
...And it backfired. She got hurt and failed. She lost against her cousin, but who wouldn't? Someone as weak as she, shy as she.   
  
Gaara was her opposite. He was definately not weak, he had the power of the Sand on his side, he didn't even need to train, and shy wasn't what he was, he was just quiet, brooding, hating...But he wasn't shy, he just didn't feel that anyone was worthy of his time, his breath.  
  
Then she came along, his exact opposite.   
  
The first thing he noticed about her, just as everyone else, was her eyes. Her pearly-white eyes, though if one didn't look hard enough they would seem cold, Gaara could tell that they weren't. He could tell that they were warm, frightened...But everyone's eyes were frightened when around him. He was Gaara of the Sand, after all.  
  
And he absolutely hated who he was. Maybe he and Hinata weren't so different, after all.  
  
He didn't like being thought of as a killing machine, a murderer. But that's what he was, and he couldn't change it. After the first kill his sand made, he became feared. But secretly, he kind of feared his sand. It gave him the reputation of a killer, and he was sure that if it could protect him, it had the ability to kill him.   
  
Hinata hated who she was because of how weak she was, how shy and weak she really was. She was fragile and alone, and without his sand, Gaara would be the same.  
  
He was known for loving death, loving blood raining down on him and loving sand envelope those weaker than himself. He loved a good challenge and loved strength. It was all he had, after all. He had no family, no one to love him, to take care of him. He had only himself. His only family feared him, not loved him.   
  
Hinata was known for loving...Nothing. She wasn't known enough. No one tried to get to know her enough, if they did, they would realize that she loved admirable people. Anyone who she admired, which were a lot of people, were loved and respected, and most of all, feared by her. but no one loved and respected, and most definately did not fear her. She had a family, a large family, but they were cold to her, never caring about how she felt, only that she was weak. That's all they noticed, was her weakness, which was why she so admired Naruto, he was brave and strong, two things she believed she could never be.  
  
Gaara did not respect or love or even care about Hinata at first. He didn't acknowledge her or worry about her being a threat. He had his sand, and she was weak.  
  
Hinata, on the other hand, was scared of Gaara, fearing him, just like everyone else had, only more so, and actually respected him...How he could become so strong and feared without even a single day of ninja training. She was quite jealous, but she never showed jealousy...Not like anyone would notice. No one payed attention to the weak.  
  
Then Hinata noticed that a year after the first Chuunin exam, during her second exam, that Gaara was there. Gaara was watching her, too. She felt uneasy, to say the least. The undoubtably strongest ninja there, and from the Sand, was looking at her...But why? She wasn't strong, so he wouldn't want to fight her...  
  
She was scared. She was so scared that she started shaking, yet another coughing fit coming on. She didn't understand why Kurenai-sensei would sign her up for another exam when she was still so sick, but Hinata accepted, for her teammates...this time.  
  
Gaara raised a brow. This girl was no different from the others, fearing for her life when he looked a second glance at her. But it wasn't just a second glance. He was gazing at her. She was beautiful...and she wasn't even bleeding!  
  
She was truely the first thing he had ever called "beautiful" that wasn't bleeding, or wasn't blood itself, or bloodied sand. She was...Just beautiful.  
  
But now she was bleeding. She was coughing up blood, hacking up the crimson liquid he had grown so close to. Her teammates were used to it, but they still asked her if she was alright. She nodded as more scarlet escaped her mouth.  
  
And...Gaara felt pity for her. He pitied someone! But...he also found a new respect for her, coming back to the exam that ruined her life the previous year. But...It made no sense. he pitied her, respected her, and all because she was so weak?  
  
...But perhaps he was the truely weak one. She admitted that she was weak, to herself and to others, but he enjoyed the fear he instilled in others. He knew she could never truely enjoy others in pain, fear, because she knew what it was.  
  
"What is 'pain'?"...Gaara still remembered those words he had asked so very long ago. He was referring to physical pain, and he still had no idea what it felt like.  
  
"What is "pain"?" Gaara muttered under his breath, asking no one in particular, but recieving an answer from the girl with some blood trickling down from her mouth.  
  
"...B-Being weak..." she answered, slowly, studdering, but sure of the answer.  
  
Gaara was shocked. She had heard? And she had an answer? ...It was such a simple answer, at that.  
  
"Pain....And weakness....I think I understand...." gasped the sand controller. All of his life he had understood emotional pain, being feared and hated, and he secretly understood weakness, knowing that he was weak without his sand.  
  
Hinata gaped, but nodded. Everyone had secrets they liked to keep, and Gaara was surely no different.  
  
"Beautiful..." whispered Gaara slowly, wiping the blood from Hinata's face. She blushed, though he was surely talking about the scarlet liquid now on his hand. Gaara licked the blood hungrily.  
  
Gaara's sand quickly enveloped Hinata after Gaara wiped away the blood, and everyone scattered. Gaara's eyes widened in shock. He had forgotten all about his sand, and now it would surely kill this girl that he had come to respect!  
  
Hinata was frozen in fear. She had nightmares about this very sand, the gourd on Gaara's back, and Gaara himself ever since her first Chuunin exam last year, and now her worse nightmare had come to life.  
  
She was being killed by that blood-stained sand that everyone thought Gaara loved.  
  
"No!" shouted Gaara, clearly disturbed. And, surprisingly enough, his sand obeyed...Perhaps the sand did not control him, but he the sand.  
  
The sand, quickly as it had come out, ready to kill the small Hyuuga, poured quickly back into the heavy gourd, making everyone freeze in shock.   
  
"Th-The sand...it's never retreated without killing it's intended victim first..." Temari stated, not believing what they all had just witnessed. Kankuro nodded in agreement.  
  
Hinata fell to the ground, too shocked and scared to even cough up more blood. Tears freely flowed down her face and Gaara kneeled down to her level.  
  
"You didn't get sand in your eyes, did you?"  
  
*Owari* 


End file.
